Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa Scooter and Royal Enfield Himalayan motorcycle.

Mechanical Satisfaction

by 20 Comments

Do you derive joy or satisfaction from working on your scooter or motorcycle?

Vespa GTS scooter in wash bayGrime and Crud

After an evening of wrench turning and and part changing the scooter is back on the road.  A new battery has the scooter firing up strongly and a new sparkplug and air filter has reduced the occurrence of the engine fault light coming on.  To celebrate I went for a test ride and decided to stop and spray the filth off the Vespa.  Being careful to not direct any high powered streams of water into the engine or other delicate places I was able to transform a mud caked, limestone dust coated, salt encrusted scooter into a reasonable handsome machine.

Can’t say the same about my grease stained fingers.  I remember now that I have latex gloves to keep my hands clean.  Sitting here now, tired after a long week and some work on the scooter this evening, I can tell I’m in a glow of mechanical satisfaction.  As much as I hate to admit it there is a tangible feeling of accomplishment from a few simple acts.

Strange.

Vespa GTS scooter along road at night with passing carsRoad Closed Ahead

Before I get lost in the mechanic romantic I still find riding more dazzling and rewarding than crawling around the driveway with a wrench and screwdriver.  Working on the scooter and knowing I can do a few things was fun but can’t hold a candle to the test ride.  Through the dark and on the way home the smile has returned.

You know the one, the big grin fueled by fun.

The mechanical satisfaction isn’t over yet — still have to change the engine and transmission oil and check the head bearings.  Another day, after a nice spring ride.

Trying to be a good Boy Scout I ordered a pair of Heidenau K61 tires today from Kissell Motorsports.  I’ll be needing them in a month or so.

Melting into the chair at the moment and dreaming of sleep.  That’s what Friday nights have become for an old Vespa rider…

Absent-Minded Vespa Mechanic

by 28 Comments

Vespa scooter and tools in a drivewayNighttime Wrenching

On Monday morning I was suited up and ready to ride to work only to find the Vespa near death when I pressed the starter button.  Hard to describe the level of disappointment this old man feels when a scooter ride is snatched away.  There’s some consolation in being able to report no curses or expletives emerged from my disappointed brain — just a calm push of the scooter back into the garage.

A long day at work along with evening errands kept me from investigating the problem with the Vespa.  And Tuesday evening had me finishing our taxes before Uncle Sam hauled myself and the scooter away.  Finally this evening I found time to have a look.  Like so many things though, my estimate of available “time” was inaccurate.  Or perhaps more precisely, I didn’t realize how fast I was rushing through time to get the Vespa moving again.

The differential diagnosis which was confirmed by fellow riders on the ModernVespa.com forum was either a dead battery or bad ground wire.  Simple things to investigate and fix.  Found the ground wire — it looked dirty and corroded so I removed it and being in a rush and not paying attention promptly dropped the bolt and washers into an abyss in the engine compartment. Predictable move for an absent-minded Vespa mechanic.

After a trip to the hardware store for replacement parts I pushed the start button and the scooter started right up.  Shut the engine off and tried again and the engine barely turned. Pushed the starter button again and the engine turned over slowly and started.  Barely.  As I rode out of the driveway I’m thinking “bad battery”.

Vespa GTS scooter at nightInto the Night with a Dead Battery

Zipped up the street and the Vespa ran fine.  Didn’t want to breakdown far from home so I stayed in the neighborhood.  Just up the hill from our garage I shut the engine off and let the headlight drain some energy from the battery.  Hit the starter button after a few minutes and I’m back to a hard start.  Once home I hooked the engine up to my AntiGravity battery and the Vespa came to life.

Get your own peace of mind regarding dead batteries — Antigravity XP-5 MINI Micro Start – Personal Battery Jump Starter & Charger – Back Up Power Supply.

So — dead battery. Hopefully.

Vespa GTS batteryI See a Battery in my Future

Despite being less than two years old the battery seems to be dead.  Perhaps running year round in cold weather takes a toll.  Others have suggested constant use of a Battery Tender shortens the life of the battery.  Don’t know, don’t care.  Just want to go for a ride.  So tomorrow I’ll stop by Kissell Motorsports and hopefully find a new battery.  And once installed I expect the engine to start.

Am I asking too much?

Antigravity Batteries

by 30 Comments

Vespa GTS scooterThis post is not about the Vespa.  It’s about the Honda Fit on the left side of the picture.  And everything I’m about to share is my dog Lily’s fault.  I happened like this…

On Thursday morning Lily, Junior and I piled into the Fit and went to the park.  While there, she took a predictable dump and me, being the responsible dog owner I am, gathered up the logs in a plastic bag. Since there were no public garbage cans available for disposal I tied the bag off and put it on the floor of the Fit to dispose of at home.  After some energetic tennis ball retrieval games we piled back into the car and went home.

Fast forward to Saturday morning when I get into the Honda Fit to look for my raincoat — I forgot the bag.  Two days of roasting temperatures transformed the inside of the car into some sort of cosmic level fragrance center.  It was bad.

Working quickly while holding my breath I get the windows down and abandon the car for later in the day.

Fast forward to Saturday evening when I go outside to close the car windows.  As soon as I opened the car door and the dome light didn’t come on I knew what happened.  Lily made me leave the key in the ignition in the on position all day long and killed the battery.

Bad dog.

Anti-Gravity batteryEnter the Micro-Start Mini XP-5 from Antigravity Batteries.  I bought one of these to keep with the Vespa so if I’m on the road and my battery dies I can just jump start the scooter.  It’s about the size of my iPhone, comes with a nice little case that includes jumper cables and a variety phone and mobile device charger cords.  For $99 I thought it was a good investment.

With a dead Honda Fit in the driveway I had a couple choices — move a lot of stuff around so I could get the van in a place where I could jump the Fit, or try out the Mini XP-5.

Took but a few seconds to plug the short jumper cables into the battery, connect it to the Fit, and turn the key.  The car started right up.

Lily’s not a bad dog afterall.

This is the smallest battery made by Antigravity Batteries but it will jump start engines up to 1600ccs.  The slightly larger ones will start a V8 engine a dozen times.  Or recharge an iPad that many times.  It’s a pretty cool piece of technology to have available should you need power.

I got mine from Revzilla.com.

Tranquility Interrupted

by 13 Comments

Gordon Harkins with his Vespa GTS 300“My Vespa is dead”.  That’s the message I got while sitting at the Pump Station awaiting Gordon’s arrival.  A quick conversation led us both to believe the battery was dead — a victim of too little riding during the winter despite being tethered to a Battery Tender.  Tranquility interrupted because of a dead battery is not the way you want to start your riding day.  The call reminded me that I want to think hard about purchasing an emergency battery for the scooter.

I arrived at the scene with the little bag of tricks.

Gordon Harkins with a Torx bitUnlike my older Vespa GTS 250 that requires a common Phillips head screwdriver to expose the battery his bright red 300 calls for a Torx bit.  Like a blind squirrel finding an acorn, Gordon had one with him and had already removed the cover so we could jump start the scooter.  I’ve jump started mine several times from a car battery.

Out of habit I flicked the kill switch on and off and hit the starter button.  The scooter engine turned over and came to life.  Gordon had one of those looks you get when you think you’ve done something stupid; I probably had the look of a magician who just pulled a fast one over the audience.

The kill switch contacts could have been dirty or the battery really is on it’s last legs.  For now it was enough to have the engine running.

Gordon Harkins on Vespa 300There’s a special camaraderie among scooter and motorcycle riders that does not extend to automobile owners — a willingness to help out when things breakdown on the road.  Not just with friends, but with strangers as well.

Vespa GTS 300 on the roadI followed Gordon home to make sure the scooter functioned ok and to let Lily the Hammer, my wife’s Belgian Sheepdog puppy play with Gordon’s dog for awhile.  Success on all counts and tranquility interrupted gave way to a fine day.

Order from Chaos

by 22 Comments

Assortment of wrenches and toolsThe drawers of my toolbox are an uncomfortable reflection of my mind — messy, haphazard, chaotic.  It’s a wonder I accomplish anything.  This spring marks the ninth winter that the Vespa scooter has endured and collected more dirt, grit and salt along with the attendant damage to metal and finish.  Trying to drive some order from chaos I worked to transition the scooter from winter service into a machine ready for the warm weather.  With a little wrenching the winter tires came off and the still serviceable summer ones returned.  I had already changed the filters and oil a couple months ago so the next order of business was the muffler — heavy with dirt and rust.

Spray can of Rustoleum high temperature paintFor a few moments I considered replacing the stock Vespa muffler with an Akrapovič or other exotic aftermarket product.  That lasted only a moment as I looked at price (wow) and more importantly noise.  The stock muffler is more or less silent.  The aftermarket ones I’ve heard are louder and annoying with the “look at me” qualities I felt were reserved for other motorcycles.

So I took the muffler off, wirebrushed all the big chucks of rush and dirt away, hosed it off, dried it in the sun and gave the muffler four coats of high temperature black paint.  It’s a familiar ritual.

repainted Vespa mufflerYou can see how badly the surface of the muffler is.  The black paint merely changes the visual tone from a rusty mess to a flat black shadow.  Looks great from ten feet or more.  Someday I’ll have to change it.  Just not today.

I see pictures on the ModernVespa.com forum of people’s scooters and I am astounded at how shiny and perfect they are even with thousands of miles on them.  That takes work and special care to maintain that kind of appearance.  And probably never venturing off road or into winter.  We each make decisions about what’s important.  For me, as long as the scooter is safe to ride, that’s all that’s important.  At least so far.

Vespa GTS scooter at sunsetTook a short ride this evening to make sure I balanced the tires correctly, got the exhaust back on with no escaping gases burning away at the fuel line, and that the scooter felt ready for more warm weather riding.

If there is anything holding up more riding it’s my own physical state.  Ten days after being diagnosed with pneumonia I seem to be recovery at a steady pace.  I’ve rested and taken care of myself and have only started to venture back into a more normal routine.  Another step to add a little order to chaos that has been persistent of late.